Damon Dash is a successful entrepreneur, record executive, and film producer. His ventures in the music and fashion industries have made him a prominent figure in hip-hop culture and a respected businessman in various entertainment fields.
You're only the boss if you put up your own money.
When I was young, I read the Bible, and I already knew what it meant to be the good guy - and look what happened to Jesus. So, I already understood that you get ridiculed for telling the truth, and I've always been aware of that. But, I'm a guy with confidence, and I'm not afraid.
Freedom is priceless.
I've never tried to be accepted. When everyone is doing one thing, I've always had the instinct to go the other way. I don't understand how an individual with their own mind, their own values, and their own beliefs can be so willing to just follow what everybody else is doing. How can you make history doing what everybody else is doing?
I don't think my success or me having the opportunity to have success is from our generation. I think it's from the generations before us. I think it's the fact that people like Martin Luther King and Medgar Evers and people like that fought for us to have the freedom to do and say what we want and have the opportunity to make money.
I think one of the most important things in evolving is forgiveness.
If I have an accountant that just reports I just invested $10 million in my business, and he doesn't exactly itemize where every cost goes, it gives a flag to the government. They want to make sure that the reason I'm not paying taxes is because I'm reinvesting in these businesses and not trying to hide stuff.
Big shout out to Nas: if you want to scream my name out again and put my name in your rhyme, I think it's funny. Let's make some money from it. Just don't take it so serious, man.
A real man won't ask or answer questions about another man's money.
I'm a businessman who puts up his own money, so I don't have time to hear about emotion. I gotta get right to the point. I'm going to tell you the truth, I'm going to address the elephant in the room, and we'll all move forward.
My delivery can be intense, but it's intense because I need to be heard. I know that people don't usually listen, as it relates to constructive criticism, without getting offended. So, I speak my mind with an attitude that I don't care if you get offended; I just want you to get the message.